Monthly archives for March, 2017

Apple has launched a new version of the MacBook Pro and it has a unique feature. This is an OLED touch bar on the keyboard. It replaces the F keys on the laptop. By using it, you can insert emojis and other special characters in your text. It is one of the recent updates performed by Apple on the MacBook Pro laptop line.

What does the new touch bar have to offer?

The touch bar is one of the advances in the design of the MacBook Pro. It took 18 months to develop and provides users with dynamic shortcuts which are fully programmable. Examples of these are shortcuts for the volume controller, managing windows among other activities.

OLED retina display technology

The touch bar is essentially an OLED screen and uses retina display technology. It is responsive to multitouch and can recognize gestures and taps too. Apple designed it to replace the traditional system functions provided by the ‘F’ buttons. Not only does it improve the overall aesthetics of the laptop, it adds some innovative versatility.

The adaptive capability of the touch bar

The touch bar actually adapts to any software you are running on the MacBook Pro to give you additional functionality. Examples of such software are browsers, photo editors, games and document processors. The ‘touch bar’ helps you to navigate in browsers, edit photos and also provides you with textual suggestions during typing. Some of these suggestions are also emojis which would appease those that use them a lot.

How it came about and its ability to enhance the user experience

Apple added the OLED touch bar so as to bring the iPhone and iPad keyboard experience to their MacBook Pro line of laptops. In this way, users can seamlessly switch from the virtual keyboard to the physical one without feeling much of a difference. Parallels between the iPhone design and new MacBook Pro extend to the power button as well.

The right end of the touch bar contains the power button. This one does much more than power up your laptop, though. It has an integrated Apple Touch ID fingerprint scanner built in. This is just like the one which is integrated into the iPad and the iPhone. You can use it to unlock the MacBook Pro and confirm e-commerce payments using Apple Pay. In addition to that, the laptop has a new Force Touch trackpad. This one is two times the size of the old trackpad, some have stated that the trackpad is way oversized to the point of comedic proportions.

MacBook Pro specifications

The MacBook Pro is a lighter, thinner laptop than before. It has 4 USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, a pair on each side. These changes began with the previous MacBook Pro and have continued further. They are used for data connectivity and powering the machine. You will not find any USB type A ports on this laptop. Despite being a global standard and used in the Apple Lightning cable, they are not available in this new MacBook Pro. Which has become a thorn in users side as their existing hardware is not compatible without a dongle.

It also does not have an SD reader or HDMI port. Therefore, you have to invest in accessories so as to get the functionality that these ports bring to the computing experience. Another feature that is not available in this laptop is the MagSafe power adapter. This one is replaced by the USB-C feature. With so many ports scrapped from the design and construction of this laptop, users are thankful that it still has a 3.5mm headphone port.

The new MacBook Pro is available in two distinct models. One of them has a 13-inch screen and is equipped with a dual-core Intel i5 processor. Also available with a dual-core i7 processor, it has 8GB of RAM. This model has a 256GB hard disk and the Iris 550 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) from Intel. Thanks to its technical features, this MacBook Pro model can provide you with 103% faster gaming and 76% quicker video editing. In addition to that, the 3D graphics in this laptop are much better than the ones in the previous model.

The other option is a more powerful 15-inch MacBook Pro. It has a quad-core Intel i7 processor coupled with 16GB of RAM. Moreover, it has 256GB of hard disk space. You can also get it with the AMD Radeon Pro 450 GPU which provides you with 4GB of Video RAM. As a result, your 3D graphics are 130% better and games run 60% faster. In addition to that, video editing is 57% faster. Both models of the Apple MacBook Pro give 10 hours of battery life. The 13-inch model costs $1,799 in the US and £1,749 in the UK while the 15-inch model costs $2,399 in the US and £2,349 in the UK.

Mixed reviews and problems in this new laptop

Users of the new MacBook Pro had generally negative reviews of the newest laptop. They also all had one thing to complain about, its battery life. The laptop hardly even went for half of the promised time span with many of them getting fully depleted after only 3 hours of use. There have been widespread reports of battery problems in the new MacBook Pro.

In addition to that, users complained that the keys are noisy and resemble those on old laptop computers. Some users indicate that the keys are malfunctioning and not working at all. Developers attribute this to a design flaw or problems with the input subsystem of the computer.

The USB-C adapters are also reportedly slowing down or killing the laptop’s WiFi connection when you use them. No solutions have been provided yet by the manufacturer and users are encouraged to return their MacBook Pro laptops for exchange or replacement in case they run into these problems.
The Apple MacBook Pro features a touch bar which is an innovative feature in the world of laptops. It bridges the gap between the virtual keyboard on the iPad and iPhone with the physical one on MacBook laptops. This was a great and useful addition. However, the major battery problems and other issues spoiled the party for the MacBook Pro laptop. So as of now I’d recommend holding off on purchasing the newest Macbook Pro until they iron out all the kinks.